WAD MADANI, Sudan: A strategic Nile bridge in Sudan’s capital has collapsed, the army and rival paramilitaries said in separate statements Saturday, trading blame for its destruction nearly seven months into their devastating war.
Witnesses reported “clear signs of destruction on the Shambat Bridge” which crosses the White Nile and connecting Khartoum’s sister cities of Khartoum North and Omdurman.
Images posted online, which AFP was unable to immediately verify, showed a section of the bridge about halfway across the river had disappeared. Vehicles, apparently damaged, lay on the part of the bridge still standing.
The army, led by Sudan’s de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, said in a statement that “the rebel militia destroyed the Shambat Bridge early this morning... adding a new crime to their record.”
The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), led by Burhan’s former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, denied the accusation.
In a statement, the RSF charged that “the Burhan terrorist militia... destroyed the Shambat Bridge this morning, thinking that they could defeat our brave forces.”
In August, airstrikes and artillery fire launched by army forces loyal to Burhan hit the Shambat Bridge.
Their paramilitary rivals had used the bridge as a supply route, a local resident and a military expert told AFP.
Sudan fighting destroys strategic Khartoum bridge
https://arab.news/4px9k
Sudan fighting destroys strategic Khartoum bridge
- Witnesses reported “clear signs of destruction on the Shambat Bridge” which crosses the White Nile and connecting Khartoum’s sister cities of Khartoum North and Omdurman
- Images posted online showed a section of the bridge about halfway across the river had disappeared
Vessel struck off Oman’s Muscat, UKMTO says
DUBAI: A vessel was struck on Sunday by an unknown projectile 50 nautical miles north of Oman’s capital, Muscat, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said.
The attack resulted in a fire in the vessel’s engine room that has been brought under control, UKMTO added.
It is the second incident the agency reports on Sunday after reporting an incident off Oman’s Kumzar in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state television said Sunday that an oil tanker was sinking after it was struck while attempting to pass through the strategic Strait of Hormuz.
The incident took place as Iran exchanged strikes with the United States and Israel, who launched an attack Saturday that killed the Islamic republic’s supreme leader.
“The fate of the offending oil tanker that was struck while attempting to illegally pass through the Strait of Hormuz is that it is now sinking,” state TV reported, without elaborating.
It carried footage showing heavy black smoke emanating from the burning tanker at sea.
The strait carries a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and a fifth of all liquified natural gas.
On Saturday, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had warned that the vital waterway was unsafe due to US and Israeli attacks and was therefore closed to ships.
